Efficiency of E commerce shopping from a picture or motion picture on the Internet

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for adding items/services/sales to a shopping cart directly from a static or moving picture while maintaining single user interface which includes all site navigating and information controls, shopping cart and items complementary information frames. The picture can combine multiple products from various merchants, promotional advertisements and sale attractions. The method further defines a ways to add items/sales/services that needs user interaction into the shopping cart. It further defines ways to add multi vendor items into the shopping cart. It further defines ways to handle and add sales/promotions messages items/services/sales to shopping cart while updating shopping cart according to sales/promotions conditions. Method further defines ways to define personal items catalogs and preferred sale catalogs based on the said adding item to a shopping cart. Method further defines payment procedures that allow completing an order from the said shopping cart using localized payment cards/coupons/promotion codes/web-site links and the like payments options. Method further defines ways to share users rankings/preferences.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to product presentation and ordering in E commerce web site over the Internet or organization Intranet. In particular, it relates to a method of presenting existing sale advertisement materials and adding item to a shopping cart directly from a static or moving picture in an effective and convenience matter, thus increasing sales on the web site.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Shopping E commerce sites is rapidly growing. Web site owner in order to attract customers to buy from their E commerce shop over the network spends enormous efforts and money. Payment and shipping methods are also becoming trustable and reliable, thus allowing global worldwide sales.

Different approaches are used by web sites to present items for sale. All approaches are using “technical” item presentation and ordering which means pictures of a seller-preferred size are presented to the user together with basic and pricing information regarding the product, “buy me” button and/or “more info” button and/or “customer review” and/or “enlarge picture” button. Each of the web site defines its preferred item presentation structure and it applies to all presented items. This “technical” presentation and ordering will be referred thereafter as “technical shopping”. Following some disadvantage of “technical shopping”:

-   -   Clicking on the “more info” button and/or clicking on the         picture opens/jump to a more info window. As a result of the         “technical shopping” the presented more info page might present         the exact same information previously presented organized         differently on the page. This bothers the user and generates         anti trust feeling.     -   Most web sites that presents single item pictures in the         “technical shopping” lacks the associative presentation/shopping         that merchant/buyer has when shopping in a department store. It         also lacks the positioning/combination/arrangement of the item         that expose it in more intense way. These web sites sales are         based on user needs or good pricing, missing the potential of         spontaneous and enthusiasm or pop up need that are based on the         way items are presented in expert designer arrangement and         combination that attract shoppers and increase sales.

Catalog, magazine, or other pictures combining multi items picture in an appropriate surrounding are presented to the user to take advantage of printed or specially designed promotion materials designed by professional designer to stimulate user senses. The number of stores/brand names that allow their E commerce user to shop using their web site version of their professional designers printed catalog is growing (usually this is not the default interface presented to the user. User is transferred when clicking “catalog” link at site). Some sites present in site home page and/or in category main page, combined multi items picture in an appropriate surrounding. In this case, “clicking” on the item or page will transfer the user to a “more info” “technical” structured page of the clicked item, or a list of the items that were presented at the picture. The page include the regular buttons of “buy me”, parameter selection box when needed and the like. To buy another item that was presented at the picture, user need to use navigation button to return back to the originating page. Following are some problems that spoil this shopping experience:

-   -   User that wants to add different items from same page will be         transferred forth and back per item added (transferred to the         “more info” page, press “add to cart” transferred to the         shopping cart page, pressing continue shopping transfer back to         the originating page). These transfers generates inconvenient         feelings in the user mind, and can lead to lose of         synchronization and disconnect the user from being exposed to         the attractive page thus leads to smaller chances for multiple         buy.     -   Worse case is when user is familiar with the product and doesn't         need “more info” page. In these cases, transferring the user to         unnecessary pages might stop him from buying additional items         that were presented at the same picture.     -   In current E commerce, it is not possible to add items from a         picture to a multi store/brand shopping-cart. This disadvantage         limits the possibility to use multi store/brand promotion         material and exploit the impact of combined picture. Only stores         that shops the majority of the items presented in the picture         can take advantage of the picture. For example, fashion magazine         shows pictures of a model wearing “Banana republic” shirt and         pans, “Aldo” shoes, “Police” Sunglasses holding “Opium” perfume.     -   Other promotion materials attracting users by means of sales         and/or deals and/or coupons presented as a picture. These         sales/deals/coupons can be vendor specific or group of vendor         related. Current web site support coupon and promotion code         discount where the reward is constant (20% off, $15 off and the         like).     -   The following is an example for a deals that needs dynamic         reward processing and not supported in current web sites:—     -   buy 1 item from the following list, and get up to 2 items from         reward list for 30% off.     -   This example is very simple still it is not supported by web         sites. This is inconvenient for the user. It also disable from         store to take advantage of this kind of promotion material.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The presented invention is directed to method and system for improving efficiency of E commerce while shopping from a picture or motion picture on the Internet. These picture and motion picture may be based on professional sale promotion materials like a catalog, magazine, brochure, leaflet, video materials that comes to promote item sale and other sale promotion materials. It includes ordering procedure and all supporting surrounding that enable a convenient and efficient shopping including:—

-   -   Ways to present more information in addition to the information         on the picture or motion picture.     -   Ways to handle items, sales message and/or sales/promotion         messages on the picture or motion picture that need user         interaction to specify relevant parameters.     -   Ways to support multi items/multi vendors and/or any combination         on the same picture or motion picture.     -   Ways to support payment with user localized payment cards or         coupons that are presented as payment option.

The presented invention keeps all shopping surrounding in a single user interface that that includes all navigating and shopping information. Adding item to shopping cart is short (usually single click to add) and adapt intelligently to the presented item and parameter to chose from. Shopping cart is detailed, clear, and support multi store shopping cart. Sopping cart information includes store, item, deals, deliveries and other information for better shopping experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is an example to the single user interface in landscape mode.

FIG. 2 is an example to the single user interface in portrait mode.

FIG. 3 is an example for shopping cart that includes items from two vendors/store.

FIG. 4 is an example for navigation and exploring section (in landscape mode) and examples for button controls and button control selection result.

FIG. 5 is an example for item and deal selection area.

FIG. 6 is an example for local frames. The example shows more info, size select, size and color select local frames.

FIG. 7 is an example for shopping cart changes as result to clicking a “direct add” item area.

FIG. 8 is an example for text dynamically inserted to a picture before sending picture content to user computer

DEFINITION LIST

In order to better understand this invention following are term definition that will be used. Reference will be made to figures in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements. Referring number will be place in square brackets ([ ]):—

The term “click” will be used thereafter to indicate the action that cause a selectable object to be selected by means of a mouse click, keyboard selection (enter or space), tablet selection (touch pen) or any other method on any computerized equipment connected to the internet or organization Intranet, that finally cause the same operation as clicking with a mouse on a clickable area (picture/motion picture/button/link and the like).

The term “ordering picture” [for example 103] will be used thereafter to indicate a picture and/or motion picture that can combine single/multiple items from single/multiple stores/brand. It can further be web version of promotion materials like poster and/or catalogs and/or magazine and/or day/week/month sales/deals promotion material (for example flyers) or web dedicated promotion materials. These pictures may be designed by experienced designers for the purpose of attracting users to buy from the presenting web site. Static picture will be referred as “static ordering picture”. Motion picture will be referred as “moving ordering picture” and can have flow controls like slow/freeze/stop/play and the like.

The term “local frame” will be used thereafter to indicate frame (usually rectangle) that usually appears around the place where “click” triggered its appearance. It opens in a way that it would appear as a whole (where applicable). Such “local frames” are used to present “more info” information and/or “parameter select” info and/or “provider select” information. “Local frame” usage eliminates the need to transfer the user into separate page for limited task such as “more info”, “parameter select” and the like keeping the “same user interface”. There are “local frame” with “close” button/icon that when “clicked” close the “local frame”.

The term “benefit” will be used thereafter to indicate any discount (by means of percentage price discount and/or fix price discount) or free reward for item or items related to one or more categories from one or more stores, or discount/free services or any other user rewards. There are cases where it is required to present to the user a “benefit” choice selection list. We will refer thereafter this choice “benefit” as “benefit choice” and a singular choice “benefit” as “singular benefit”. This “benefit choice” selection list will appear in a “local frame” and the user will be able to select one or more “benefits” from the choice list according to the “benefit” terms. We will refer this “benefit” selection “local frame” thereafter as “benefit list”. Free “benefits” will be selected by default in the “benefit list”.

The term “shopping cart” [for example 102] will be used thereafter to indicate part of the page/or a frame that display the status of user orders. It can be hidden/revealed (to enable more screen for “ordering picture”) at all time by means of a “click”. “Shopping cart” is arranged to be clear and easy to understand. “Shopping cart” information includes shop information [for example 301], items information [for example 304], delivery information [for example 305,306], pending special sale and deals [for example 307], special sale, deals or packages [for example 308,309]. “Shopping cart” elements are grouped and sorted per shop and/or any other centralizing category. Item information includes name, quantity and price. Each item can be quantity altered [for example 302] and/or deleted [for example 303]. Delivery information include item delivery cost where applicable [for example 305], store delivery cost [for example 306] where applicable, self-pickup indication where applicable, and distribution selection list. Item related sale/deal/“benefits” [for example 308] appears next to the item where applicable. Shop related sale/deal/“benefits” appears per shop where applicable. Sale/deal/“benefits” are distinct using different color/font/size enabling the user to define the status of the “shopping cart” in a glance.

“Clicking” a “clear all” [for example 311] button/icon at the bottom of the “shopping cart” can clear the “Shopping cart”.

“shopping cart” is includes also submit button [for example 310] that enable that enable the user to use one or more of the suggested paying method for checkout.

The term “same user interface” will be used thereafter to indicate user interface that includes all shop navigating and information controls [for example 101], “shopping cart” and/or “shopping cart” revealing control and a pictures area needed for the user to navigate and add items from various stores pages to a multi store “shopping cart”. Picture area may include single “ordering picture” [for example 407]/double [for example 408]/fast scanning pictures [for example 409]. Information control may include: single [for example 401]/max size single [for example 404]/double [for example 402]/fast browsing mode [for example 403], zoom in [for example 405]/zoom out [for example 406], page skipping and the like controls. User can select a preferred layout. Default layout is landscape for example [100]. Store may prefer portrait layout [for example 200], In this case when user switch to these stores layout switches automatically. Other layouts may be introduced for store and user selection. Layout may change also according to the width and length of the surfing window to enable optimization according to store pictures dimensions.

The term “more info” will be used thereafter to indicate the information that is complete and/or complimentary to the information presented in the “ordering picture”. Usually “more info” is presented in a “local frame”. When “more info” is large (can not feet into “local frame” without affecting the texture of the “ordering picture”) like for example in the case of professional digital camera, clicking on the “more info” icon [for example 601] will open a new window with the appropriate complementary information page. This window may include a “close window” button that will close the window and raise the original window on click. We will refer this window as “more info window” [for example 602].

The term “language translation” will be used thereafter to indicate a “local frame” that present information in different language than the presented language in the “ordering picture”. It is accessible when user selected interface language different from the store/vendor language definition. “Clicking” on text section that appears on the “ordering picture” shows the “local frame” with the translated text.

The term “parameter select” [for example 603 and/or 604] will be used thereafter to indicate a selection “local frame” to enable the user to select preferred color and/or preferred size and/or fabric type and texture and/or any other parameter selection for the item needed in order to complete item addition to “shopping cart”. Selection is done by means of colored select boxes, item related color palette, check boxes, alternative check box (better known as HTML radio button), icons, small pictures and the like. “Click” on the parameter will add the selected parameter item to the “shopping cart” and close the “parameter select”. In multi parameter selection frame, a “Submit” button is presented. “Click” it will add the item to “shopping cart” after validating the selected parameters.

The term “provider select” will be used thereafter to indicate a selection “local frame” to enable the user to select preferred store/vendor for the item. This is applicable when there is more than one store/vendor quoting price for the item. The user will select its preferred store to order from. Usually it will contain store names, item price per store, delivery charge per store where applicable and/or store location and/or service locations and/or store service rating or any other information needed. Selection is done by means of “click” store/vendor.

The term “group bulk sale” will be referred thereafter to indicate special sale activity that allow reduced price for a predefined number of items within predefined limited time. There are various embodiments for this sale. Following some sale examples for sale terms:

-   -   All the amount of items must sell before end of sale.     -   Minimum amount from the items must sale before end of sale.     -   Only one kind of item is presented for sale.     -   Group of items is presented for sale for the user to select         from.     -   Price declines as more items are bought.     -   With or without Cancellation fee.

The term “flex group bulk sale” will be referred thereafter to indicate special “group bulk sale” that:—

-   -   Allow selection from multiple items as reduced price, we will         refer it thereafter as “item flex group bulk sale”

And/or

-   -   Allow change in price reduction according to the total amount of         items that are bought in the “group bulk sale”. We will refer it         thereafter as “price flex group bulk sale”.         For example:—

Buy colored bed sheets for $20 or less. Available in red, blue and green.

Price for 1 to 100 sheets sold is $20 Price from 101 up to 200 sheets sold is $18 Price from 201 up to 500 sheets sold is $15

In this example user will have the ability to choose bed sheet color and if accumulated number of sheets sold is more than 200 the price each of the users pays per item is $15.

The term “group sale select” will be referred thereafter to indicate a “local frame” presenting all information regarding the “group bulk sale”. It usually include sale information like number of items suggested, minimum items quantity for sale to apply, time frames, pricing information including delivery, amount of items already bought, item/parameter select where applicable (similar to the way “parameter select” present parametric information), it may include possibility to share sale information with friends (optionally accelerate sale termination), “join the sale” button and “close window” button. When “clicking” “join the sale” button, it enables the user to commit to sale terms (including payment information).

The term “static inserted info” will be referred thereafter to indicate information that is part of the picture (information inserted using picture editor in the design and/or deployment preparation stage). It is used to present pricing information and/or text and/or icon. For example, adding warranty information to a magazine picture. In the preferred embodiment of this invention it should be used to insert long terms information to a picture.

The term “dynamic inserted info” [for example 803] will be referred thereafter to indicate information that is dynamically changing in the picture. This means that raw pictures [for example 804] are dynamically pre processed [for example 802] before being presented to the user [for example 805], or the information will be on top of the presented picture. It is used for same purposes as “static inserted info” and it is more flexible. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be used for short or rapidly changing information.

The term “item area” [for example 501] will be referred thereafter to indicate the area that defines an item. It might be picture of the item and/or any sign and/or text representing the item on/off the “ordering picture” or any combinations. For example in some catalogs, item details and price can be found on the bottom of the page. In this case, the “item area” can be the picture of the item or the detailing text and price or both.

The term “group sale area” will be referred thereafter to indicate the area that defines a “group sale”. It might be the “group sale” and/or any sign and/or text representing the “group sale” on/off the “ordering picture” or any combinations.

The term “item deal area” [for example 502] will be referred thereafter to indicate to the area that defines a package deal for one item or more with single or more “benefits”. It might be the deal itself and/or any sign and/or text representing the deal on/off the “ordering picture” or any combinations. An icon and/or text and/or any other sign are presented to the user using “static inserted info” and/or “dynamic inserted info”. “Click” on the area that defines a package deal for one item or more with single or more “benefits”. It might be the deal itself and/or any sign and/or text representing the deal on/off the “ordering picture” or any combinations.

The term “direct add” will be used thereafter to indicate adding item/deal/package and other orderable into a “shopping cart” [for example 703,704] directly from an “ordering picture” [for example 702] by means of single “click” [for example 705, 706] on “item area”/.“group sale area”/“item deal area”.

The term “deal” will be used thereafter to indicate item/department/store sale, coupons, promotion code, package deals or any kind of promotion sale entitling the user “benefits” and encouraging the user to shop. These “deals” can be vendor specific or group of vendor related. Some “deals” are term dependent which means that some condition should be meet before the “benefit” can apply. We will refer these terms thereafter as “deal terms”. In some cases multiple choice of “deal terms” are presented for a “deal”. We will refer it thereafter as “deal term choices”. List of all term choices is presented to the user in a “local frame” to select preferred choices. We will refer this list thereafter as “deal term choice list”. Following example clarifies it:

Buy

1 large pizza (5 possible choices) or 1 pasta plate (3 possible choices)

And

2 salads (4 possible choices)

For $15. The user will be presented in the “deal term choice list” 1 of 5 options to select pizza or 1 of 3 options to select pasta plate and 2 of 4 options to select salads. Stores can introduce many “deals” variations. Common “deals” term:—

Buy specific item, Buy from a specific shop, buy minimum order from one or more vendors, buy minimum quantities of one item or more, insert promotion/coupon code, accumulate store point in a period of time, buy in the next 3 days and the like. “Deals” examples:—

-   -   Accumulate $300 of buying in April and get free car service in         June.     -   Buy one tire and get up to 3 more for 20% off or get one more         for 40% off.     -   Buy one large 12 slices pizza with 2 extras and 1.5 liter soda         and get 2 personal pizza or 2 cans of soda

The term “sum deal” will be referred thereafter to indicate a “deal term” of minimum ordered sum of one item/group of items from a category/categories/store/stores/whole-“shopping cart”

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention defines method and apparatus for improving efficiency of E commerce shopping from a picture or motion picture on the Internet. It includes ordering procedure and all supporting surrounding that enable a convenient and efficient shopping including:—

-   -   Ways to present more information in addition to the information         on the “ordering picture”.     -   Ways to handle items and sales message that need user         interaction to specify relevant parameters.     -   Ways to support multi items/multi vendors and/or any combination         on the same “ordering picture”.     -   Ways to handle sales/promotion messages presented on “ordering         picture”.     -   Ways to support payment with user localized payment cards or         coupons that are presented as payment option.

This invention allows users to add items into a “shopping cart” directly from a “static ordering picture” presented on the internet/intranet. “direct add” means that shopper will not have to go through a constant predefined procedure that applies to all item added into shopping cart. “Click” on “item area” will add the item into the “shopping cart”.

There are items that cannot be ordered using one “click”. These items need parameter selection in order to be added to “shopping cart”. For these items “click” on “item area” will discover the “parameter select” where the user will be able to complete item addition to “shopping cart”.

“Parameter select” enables the user to verify that his preferred parameters are available on the spot without having to be transferred to a parameters selection page where he might find that his preferred parameters are not available. This makes shopping experience reliable and efficient.

We will refer “add item” thereafter for the global operation of adding an item to the “shopping cart” including the “direct add” and the item add that requires “parameter select”.

An icon will be presented for items that have “more info”. “Click” this icon will show/open a “more info” “local frame”/“more info window” depending on the content of the “more info”. When “ordering picture” presented to the user supply all the information needed for the user to decide whether he wants or not to buy the item or the user is familiar with the item, user can directly add the item to the “shopping cart” saving unnecessary transfers to extra pages (more information page), thus making shopping experience more efficient.

This invention further allows users to add items into a “shopping cart” from a “moving ordering picture” presented on the internet/intranet. “Click” on “item area” issues a hidden request to the server with all needed parameters including coordinate and moving picture timestamp, according to server reply will add the item into the “shopping cart” or may present “local frame” that includes “more info” and “add item form” which defines all necessary selections for the item. “Clicking” the submit button on this “local frame” will add the item into the “shopping cart” according to the selected parameters (where applicable). Clicking the “moving ordering picture” will pause the moving picture until the “local frame” is closed or an item is ordered.

There are pages where item presented can be supplied from various vendors, we will refer it as “vendor auction”. “Click” on “vendor auction” will show “Provider select” where the user can “click” his preferred vendor thus adding the item into “shopping cart”. The user will be able to define his preferred vendors (which can be saved for registered users). In such case if a preferred vendor is part of a “vendor auction” vendors, this vendor item will be added to the “shopping cart” without the “provider select” interaction. In case of multiple preferred vendors, these vendors will appear at the top of the “provider select”.

For example digital camera “such and such” is “vendor auction” item, “click” on “vendor auction” (for camera in this case) will show “provider select”, “click” on the vendor will add the selected vendor item into “shopping cart”.

“Vendor auction” makes shopping experience efficient saving the user the need to interact with multiple web sites to look for various vendor pricing and terms.

In some catalogs/magazines and promotion materials, items appear in multiple places on various pages in various angles or situations in order to attract the customer to buy in a spontaneous way or from any reason the designer intended to. These items may be added to “shopping cart” from all appearances as the same store item, thus when adding an item twice from other pages, it will still accumulate item quantity in “shopping cart”.

Some advertisement/promotion/magazine materials combine multiple items from various vendors on the same picture (for example: fashion magazine shows pictures of a model wearing “Banana republik” shirt and pans, “Alda” shoes, “Polise” Sunglasses holding “Optimum” perfume). “Click” on each “item area” “add item” to the “shopping cart”.

It further allows item presentation and navigation in a way that makes E commerce shopping fast, efficient and convenient. Three improvements in ordering process make shopping experience more friendly to the user:—

-   -   “Direct add” saves at least one page interaction and one click         related to current procedures, making shopping efficient, faster         and convenient     -   “Local frame” keeps the user in the “same user interface” and         shortening the time for “more info”, “parameter select” or other         information that is presented in a “local frame”. This way user         does not lose contact with the page and “ordering picture”,         making shopping faster and convenient.     -   “Language translation” allows localization of worldwide         presented designer's promotion materials, making shopping from         foreign language promotion material possible and convenient.     -   “Shopping cart” keeps the user in the “same user interface” and         enabling the user to be updated about his “shopping cart” status         on a glance.

“More info window” will be used in categories where the nature of the product is sophisticated and the feature list is large. Since in most cases of such sophisticated item people are checking item characteristics in the manufacturer specifications and/or in professional reviewers and only then looking for a place to shop, they will not use this “more info” often. Usually “more info window” will present to the user the manufacturer specification page.

Said method further defines various item pricing and/or “deals” presentation in the said “ordering picture” to be added into “shopping cart” and processed in accordance to the “deal”.

When pricing information is missing in the “ordering picture”, it is presented using “static inserted info” and/or the “dynamic inserted info” or within “parameter select” for items that its price is parameter dependent (for example: Soda—large=3,medium=2,small=1).

There are promotion materials that are delivered to potential shoppers through paper distribution or other direct distribution. In these promotion materials there are many “deals”. This invention answers ordering from promotion materials presented on the Internet while applying “deals” into user “shopping cart” when “deals terms” are reached and/or by direct order based on “item deal area” as will be further described. All items in the “shopping cart” that are part of a non reached “deal terms” will be presented to the user with an pending “deal terms” icon, keeping the user informed at all time that the item ordered is part of a “deals”. “Clicking” this icon will open a “local frame” informing the user with item related “deals” details giving him the option to replace the item with the “deal” content.

“Clicking” the “item deal area” of a “singular benefit” “deal” on the “ordering picture” will “direct add” the deal to the “shopping cart” as a package including all free “benefits” and non-free “benefits”.

“Clicking” the “item deal area” of a “benefit choice” “deal” will present to the user “benefit list” to choose the preferred “benefits” and add it as a package with the selected “benefits” to “shopping cart”.

“Clicking” the “item deal area” of a “deal” with “deal term choices” will present to the user “deal term choice list” to select the preferred choices and add the selected choices as a package to “shopping cart”.

Applying “deals” into user “shopping cart” will be done when “deals terms” are reached. In some cases, it will require user interaction.

Free “benefits” will be added to user “shopping cart” automatically when “deal terms” are reached (for example—buy 3 pizza get large soda, soda will be added automatically to “shopping cart” when “shopping cart” include 3 pizza. One more example—buy one for 25 buy two for 40, adding the second item will automatically change unit price to 20).

Non free “benefits” or multiple “benefits” presented in a “benefit list” will, at the time “shopping cart” order content meets “deal terms”, add “benefit” entitling icon or message in the “shopping cart” that when “clicked” will open a “benefit list”. The user then can add “benefits” to the “shopping cart” according to deal limitation. Also when checking out an alert indicating that there are pending “benefits” will be generated to finally enable him to explore these “benefits” or continue to checkout.

The same applies to “sum deal”.

Any changes made by the user in the “shopping cart” will automatically present the applicable “benefits” according to the changes made. For example if a user added 3 pizzas to the “shopping cart” and large soda was added automatically for free, when the user reduce the amount of pizza the large soda will be removed automatically.

There are cases where stores/vendors are presenting bulk sales for various marketing purposes. This invention answers ordering “group bulk sale” promotion materials presented on the Internet while applying “group bulk sale” terms. “Clicking” on the “group bulk sale area” present to the user a “group sale select”. User then “click” to select item preferred parameters (where applicable) and “click” to select the preferred item (In “item flex group bulk sale”) and “click” on the “join the sale” button to enable the user to commit for the sale. In “price flex group bulk sale” users are charged according to the final results of the sale.

It further defines various ordering and payments methods to support “shopping cart” checkout. User can pay for his purchase using any available electronic way includes (partial list) magnetic cards, pre-paid cards, credit cards, debit cards, company cards, member club cards, money transfer through bank account, accumulated points, coupon, promotion code and the like. User will need to fill information that is required for the selected payment option.

In some cases, the store or a group of stores can be the issuer of such pre paid cards. These cards may also be used in store physical stores.

User can also pay with accumulating cards (post paid), which are used according to card policy and limitations (for example day usage/period usage).

All payment options will be checked against payment option authority (for example credit card issuer) and in accordance approves or disapprove the payment.

Payment options are clearly introduced in the “shopping cart” by means of logo, icon, or text list.

The user is able to select payment method. The user will also have the possibility to send payment details by fax or Email. All non on-line payment procedure will be processed only after payment details received and verified.

On-line payment verification will be done separately for each store/group of stores in the “shopping cart”.

New payment options will be added from time to time to keep flexible paying procedure making shopping experience convenient and efficient for the user.

The invention further allows the user to limit multi vendor item to present only vendors that meets geographical limitation and/or level threshold rated vendors.

This invention further supports sale and deals interaction with the users. Users will have the ability to vote for their preferred item they wish to see as “deals”. An icon is presented in the navigation tools that will open “local frame” detailing all items on the page. User will select its preferred item and submit. Only registered users will have the ability to participate. Vendors will have the ability to respond with “deals”.

This invention also support registered users latest buy list. After identifying the user an icon will be presented that on “click” will show “local frame” with the user latest/preferred items. List sorting may be per shopping date/per quantity bought/per item shopping times number and the like. When the user select specific vendor to shop from, the list will include only items bought from this vendor. “Click” on an item from the list will “direct add” the item to the “shopping cart”. Items that appear on the list and are not available will not be “clickable”. This enable the user to buy an already bought item once again even without looking for the page item appears in. This makes shopping experience convenient easy and fast.

In order to make the shopping experience more convenient, picture presented are based on a large detailed picture. The picture presented in normal mode will fit into picture frame in a standard display (in the preferred embodiment 1024×768). The user can then chose to see enlarged picture or use zoom magnifier. In both the normal mode and the enlarged picture, the user can “click” and add item to “shopping cart”. Since usually enlarged pictures are greater than the picture frame, user needs to use scrolling bars to explore the entire picture. In order to make it more convenient for the user, an auto scroll feature is also available. This feature scrolls the picture when user-pointing device is over picture frame edges. The zoom magnifier presents a moving “local frame” that present an enlarged picture of the zoomed area. Zooming area (not zooming factor) can be increased or reduced.

Some other measures can help creating a better shopping experience like:—

-   -   Playing a sound when the item was added to the “shopping cart”         which will indicates to the user that the item was added even         when the “shopping cart” is hidden.     -   Special “shopping cart” split feature. This feature can be         applied for all items that have more than one vendor. In this         case user add items to “shopping cart”. At any time the user         will have the possibility to select whether to split “shopping         cart” content so that the total amount will be the minimal, or         buy from a single store that its total sum is smallest or by         delivery time or other parameters. This makes shopping         experience convenient, easy, and fast.

SUMMERY

Shopping based on a picture in any attractive presentation way, while giving interactive resolution about prices/stores/vendors/sales is a new advanced concept for shoppers and vendors for e-commerce on the web. This invention makes the experience of shopping e-commerce web site fast, simple, convenient and clear. User is interacting with a single user interface that includes all navigating and shopping information. Adding item to “shopping cart” is short (in most cases one click will be enough to add the item to “shopping cart”) and intelligent (when there is only one parameter to chose from, the user need only to click the preferred parameter to add the selected parameter item to “shopping cart” and close interactive local frame). “shopping cart” is detailed and clear and support multi store “shopping cart”, all deals information are presented in a distinctive way to make it possible for the user to identify on a glance. Delivery costs are specified per item and per store where applicable. Items and deal are grouped per store and sorted. Features like “vendor auction” or others contribute for better shopping experience. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method and apparatus to make e commerce shopping from store pictures or motion pictures presented on the Internet and/or organization intranet efficient, spontaneous, enthusiastic, customized while maintaining single user interface, using all existing promotion materials to encourage the user to shop, including catalogs or magazines pictures that includes items from multiple store and the like.
 2. Said e commerce of claim 1 build of plurality of client computer connected via internet/intranet network to service servers, better known as web servers. Scripting language like ASP,PHP or others are used to expand web site flexibility. Database is also used to hold and manipulate all related data.
 3. Said store of claim 1 wherein store manager can define all store related settings including picture and/or motion picture to be presented, items definition, sales and benefit definitions, delivery settings, page control (enable, sequence, magnification rate and others) and other store customization settings. Said stores have access via internet web-site and/or email and/or messaging systems to all store related reports including orders reports, store customer report and the like. Said reports consist of general reports and per store customized reports.
 4. Said single user interface of claim 1 comprising exploring and navigating tools, store or multi stores shopping cart, interacting frames.
 5. Said exploring and navigating tools of claim 4 comprising all control and command buttons and links that enable the customer to explore stores/items. said control and command comprising language select, store select, multi level category select, page select, search tool, zooming, fast page/picture scan, user feeds and others. Said search tool consist of search submitting and search results. Said search results present fast scanning picture of all pages from all stores that match the search query. Next to the said fast scanning picture page item list is presented that include items brief like item name and price and/or special deal info and/or icon. Item brief presented may be limited in length.
 6. Said shopping cart of claim 4 can be hidden/revealed using dedicated tool of said control and command (of claim 5) enabling larger area for the picture (of claim 1) to be presented. When hidden, user will be able to identify the global status of the shopping cart by mean of shopping cart total and/or shopping cart item count and/or last item added to shopping cart details and/or any other global shopping cart details. When hidden, bringing the pointing device near the said hide/reveal control or pressing short cut key reveals the shopping cart until pointing device is off the hide/reveal control or closed by the user. When revealed, shopping cart will details all shopping cart items details (item name and/or description, quantity, price, delete and alter controls), stores details (store name and/or store location and/or store contacts and the like), deals and benefits details (deal name and/or description, quantity, price, delete and alter controls), items and/or shops delivery details (shipper name and/or shipping price and or self pickup address selection and the like) and global details like shopping cart total. shopping cart items/deals/benefits are grouped and sorted per store and presented to the user in a distinctive way allowing the user to identify shopping cart status on a glance. Said delete and alter controls includes controls to remove and/or alter quantity of each shopping cart item, global clear shopping cart control and checking out control enabling the user to pay for his purchase. Presented shopping cart includes also savings controls for multi stores items that allow the user to recalculate shopping cart taking in account the items from the store that best fits his recalculation constraint. Said recalculation constraint can be price/store/shipment constraints or any other constraint that is supported by the web site at the time of order. Presented shopping cart include also user related information like user accumulated point, shopping cart error messages, unexplored promotion deals icons, helps and the like user supporting information/controls. Stores that preferred to have dedicated shopping cart are presented in a single store session, this will enable the user to see and pay only for this shopping cart. Switching to other store that prefer a dedicated shopping cart, switch also the shopping cart. Switching to a store without dedicated shopping cart preference, switches to the multi store shopping cart that do not include dedicated shopping cart stores items.
 7. Said delivery details of claim 6 comprising shipper, price and pickup options. Delivery can be defined per item/per item group/per store/per store group. When an item is added to the shopping cart (of claim 4), delivery amount that will be added is the item delivery amount if defined else item group delivery amount is added if defined else store delivery amount is added if defined else store group delivery amount is added if defined else free delivery is added, said store or store group delivery amount is added once in a shopping cart for the specific store.
 8. Said interacting frame of claim 4 comprising more info frame, parameter select frame, deal benefit select frame, store select frame, language translation frame or any other frame that support item exploring and ordering. Said interacting frame include close frame control. All frames that are single action based will be closed automatically when action take place.
 9. Said method and apparatus of claim 1 further comprises ways to present and apply deals (sales/promotion messages) presented on the said promotion materials of claim 1 into shopping cart of claim
 4. Said deal applying enable automatic shopping cart update for deals with single deal term and single free benefit option. For multi deal term and/or multi benefit options, deal terms select frame and/or deal benefit select frame or term/benefit select frame is presented for the user to select the preferred terms/benefit. Said term may be “buy quantity and/or buy minimum order of specific item and/or buy from specific store and/or buy item or items from a list of items and/or buy from one or more stores from a list of stores and/or insert promotion/coupon code and/or accumulate store point in a period of time” and/or the like terms. Benefits may be a selection of choice to chose from. Free benefits options may be selected per default in the benefit select frame in accordance to e commerce administration configuration. For non free single or multi benefit options, said deal benefit select frame is presented for the user to select the preferred benefit. For non-free benefits said preferred benefit may be no benefit, in this case user may prefer not to select any benefits.
 10. Said deals of claim 9 further comprises special bulk sale that enable selling an item in a reduced price to a virtually organized group. Said bulk sale includes selling an amount of an item, selling an amount of multiple items, changing item price in accordance to the amount of items sold and the like. In this kind of sale user commits to their future order (determined by the sale end date) according to the sale term.
 11. Said method and apparatus of claim 1 further comprising ways to allow flexible payment procedure. Said flexible payment procedure allow users to pay for the purchase online or offline using one or more paying options. Said paying options includes credit cards or other prepaid and/or post paid electronic cards, company cards, member club cards, bank account transfers, coupon code and/or link, promotion code and/or link, accumulated user points. Said online payment means that payments details are processed electronically after the user submits payments details and includes all paying option available that is online supported by the web and the store and/or group of users at the time order is processed. Online payments options may change from time to time when new option are introduced and/or old option are obsolete. Said offline payment includes all non online payments procedure including sending payment details by fax, email, mail, messaging utilities including SMS, phone call or any other way that the user find secure enough to disclose private paying information offline and includes all paying option available that is supported by the web and the store and/or group of users at the time order is processed.
 12. Said picture of claim 1 processed statically before deploying to the said internet or organization intranet and/or processed dynamically to insert icons and/or text and/or pricing. It is also processed to define sensitive areas. Said sensitive area used to define items/multi store items/deals/bulk sale for ordering and/or service icons for sale supporting services like the said more info frame, presenting complementary information about the item in interest, and language translation frame, presenting information presented on the picture in the language selected by the user, (in claim 8) and/or the like.
 13. Said picture of claim 1 that present items/deals from single or multiple stores and wherein user select on a predefined orderable said sensitive area (of claim 12) or user select on a smaller picture and/or icon and/or text located on picture sides directly add the item/deal to the shopping cart (of claim 4) or show said interacting frame (of claim 4) for parameter select frame or deal terms option select and/or deals benefits select frame and/or store select frame. Said item parameters comprises all parameters that defines the exact item to be added to shopping cart and shipped to the user, like color, size and other. In some cases when price is not presented on the picture, parameter select presents among other parameters also price information. Said deal terms options interacting frame is presented for deals that have multi terms option enabling the user to select the preferred term thus being entitled to the deal benefit. When both multi term option and non free or multi benefit option exist for the same deal the said deal term option select interactive frame includes the option to select the benefit as well. Said store select frame is presented when user select multi store item. It consist of all store related item parameters including store name, item price, delivery price and options. It includes also item parameter select for items that requires parameter select. Selecting store add the selected store item into shopping cart.
 14. Said picture of claim 1 wherein user select on a predefined service icon (of claim 12) or user select on a smaller picture and/or icon and/or test located on picture sides present service related interactive frame. Said service interactive frame include in addition to the related service a close frame control. Special case of service frame appears when user selecting predefined orderable sensitive area (of claim 12) over a motion picture (of claim 1) that is define to show more info frame. In this special case service frame is presented that will include all related information required by the user to complete add of the item/deal to the shopping cart (of claim 4) comprising pricing information and/or more info and/or parameters select frame and/or other item/deal related. It further comprises controls to add the item into the said shopping cart.
 15. Said picture of claim 1 wherein user select on a smaller picture and/or icon and/or test located on picture sides, direct add the item to the shopping cart (same as in claim 13) present service related interactive frame. Said service interactive frame include in addition to the related service close frame control. Special case of service frame appears when user selecting predefined orderable sensitive area (of claim 12) over a motion picture (of claim 1) that is define to show more info frame. In this special case service frame is presented that will include all related information required by the user to complete add of the item/deal to the shopping cart (of claim 4) comprising pricing information and/or more info and/or parameters select frame and/or other item/deal related. It further comprise controls to add the item into the said shopping cart.
 16. Said prepaid/postpaid electronic cards of claim 11 comprising mechanism to define per user personal usage parameters like maximum monthly usage and/or maximum daily usage and/or usage hours and/or items limited to pages/stores/categories usage. These personal usage parameters are applied per user when presented to the user and/or when adding item to shopping cart and/or when paying for the purchase.
 17. Said user feeds control and command of claim 5 comprising all controls that enable the user to influent on site commerce including items preferred list and/or items preferred price and/or wish list and the like. When user select these command an interacting frame appears enabling the user to feeds inputs. All user feeds are then reported to web administration.
 18. Said customization of claim 1 comprising of registered group of users that have group administrator which can select pages/stores/categories or any combination to be the presented to the group of users. Said group administrator can also define payment options, group of user global/sector constraints. Group administrator has also access to the group related reports. Identified users from the said group of users can add items from the customized web site to shopping cart.
 19. Said picture of claim 1, may be presented in various resolutions—: Fast scan—Small pictures are presented. Picture size is calculated to enable, in the preferred embodiment, 4 rows with 6 pictures in a row. Slow scan—Two pictures are presented. Picture size is calculated to best-fit window frame height and width. Picture—Single picture is presented, normally it fits within the picture frame. Picture is orderable. Enlarged picture—Enlarged single picture. In this mode, user needs to use scrolling bars to explore the entire picture. In order to make it more convenient for the user, an auto scroll feature is also available eliminating the need to use scroll bars. The ratio between the picture and the enlarged picture is defined by store administration. Enlarged picture is orderable.
 20. Said single user interface of claim 1, Changes layout according to default layout (low priority), store preferred layout and user-preferred layout (high priority). Default layout in the preferred embodiment is landscape layout. Store may set to portrait layout.
 21. Motion picture of claim 1 processed to define time dependent sensitive areas. Said time depended sensitive area used to define items/multi store items/deals for ordering and/or service icons for sale supporting services. When user click on the picture, click coordinate and moving picture timestamp are processed to define the item related with the click. 